Relocalising the food chain: the role of creative public procurement

The conventional food chain presents a challenge to sustainable development, containing hidden costs such as health bills, environmental damage and economic costs to the rural economy. This report argues for the development of local food chains, which would bring the 'multiple dividend' of healthier diets, local markets for local producers, lower food miles and better understanding between producers and consumers. Barriers to the growth of local food chains include EU procurement regulations and UK local government legislation that prohibit explicit 'buy local' policies, health auditing conventions which neglect the health gains of nutritious food; catering cultures that are biased to a few large firms; tendering procedures that are too complex for small suppliers; and lack of logistical and marketing capacity on the part of local producers. Schools and hospitals should be the focus for a concerted local food campaign in the UK. A local food action plan is required to reform the regulatory regime, balance demand and supply, and make it easier for consumers, especially parents and children, to buy nutritious local food, including organic food

Spaces of Innovation: learning, proximity and the ecological turn

Contrary to the fashionable “death of distance” thesis, the socio-spatial context for innovation remains as important as ever for firms, networks and the public institutions that tend to be neglected in orthodox narratives of learning. In this article we explore the changing socio-spatial dynamics of innovation through the medium of three arguments: (i) that the “learning region” debate was worth having because it triggered a fruitful dialogue between innovation theorists and economic geographers; (ii) that geographical proximity remains central to our understanding of learning and innovation and should not be reduced to, or conflated with, physical co-location; and (iii) that “the ecological turn” challenges conventional conceptions of learning, innovation and development, posing unsettling questions about the forces of path dependency, especially in less favoured regions.Learning, regions, innovation, proximities

L1TV computes the flat norm for boundaries

We show that the recently introduced L1TV functional can be used to explicitly compute the flat norm for co-dimension one boundaries. While this observation alone is very useful, other important implications for image analysis and shape statistics include a method for denoising sets which are not boundaries or which have higher co-dimension and the fact that using the flat norm to compute distances not only gives a distance, but also an informative decomposition of the distance. This decomposition is made to depend on scale using the "flat norm with scale" which we define in direct analogy to the L1TV functional. We illustrate the results and implications with examples and figures

Reducing the health risks of severe winter weather among older people in the United Kingdom: an evidence-based intervention

Excess winter morbidity and mortality among older people remain significant public health issues in those European countries which experience relatively mild winter temperatures, particularly the United Kingdom (UK), Ireland, Portugal and Spain. In the UK, episodes of severe winter weather, when ambient temperatures fall below 5x C, are associated with peaks in general practitioner consultations,hospital admissions, and cardiovascular deaths among those aged over 65. While research indicates that such health risks could be substantially reduced by the adoption of appropriate behavioural strategies, accessible and credible advice on how older people can reduce risk during ‘cold snaps’ is lacking. This paper describes a programme of research that aimed: (a) to translate the relevant scientific literature into practical advice for older people in order to reduce health risk during episodes of severe winter weather ; and (b) to integrate this advice with a severe winter weather ‘Early Warning System’ developed by the UK Met Office. An advice booklet was generated through a sequential process of systematic review, consensus development, and focus group discussions with older people. In a subsequent field trial, a combination of the Met Office ‘Early Warning System’ and the advice booklet produced behavioural change among older people consistent with risk reduction. The results also show that long-held convictions about ‘healthy environments ’ and anxieties about fuel costs are barriers to risk reduction

Monopolies under Siege in Western Europe: The Challenge of Deregulation in Telecommunications

Summary The long?established public monopoly tradition in telecommunications is under attack, partly as a result of deregulation in the US, partly the result of new options being made available through technological change. This article identifies significant differences in the political response to the ‘communications revolution’ in Western Europe. Resumen Monopolios bajo sitio en Europa Occidental. El desafío de la deregulació en las telecomunicaciones El monopolio público de las telecomunicaciones, de tradición largamente establecida, es atacado en parte como resultado de la deregulación en los EEUU y en parte como resultado de las nuevas opciones disponibles a través del cambio tecnológico. Este artículo identifica diferencias significativas en las respuestas políticas de Europa occidental a la ‘revolución de las comunicaciones’. Resumé Les Siége des Monopoles en Europe de l'Ouest: le Challenge de la Déréglementation des Télécommunication La tradition, longuement établie, du monopole publique dans le secteur des télécommunications est menacée, en partie déréglementation aux Etats?Unis, et en partie à cause des options nouvelles devenues accessibles par les transformations technologiques. Cet article identifie les différences marquées dans la réponse politique à la ‘révolution des communications’ en Europe de l'ouest